Falling
by isaacswolfsbane
Summary: Hermione's been having the same strange dream for a while, but what could it mean?


_Falling._

 _It was a strange feeling, but she liked it. She liked the feeling of wind in her hair and the sense of freedom she hadn't experienced in a while. So she embraced it. She embraced the fall as the floor got closer._

 _Closer…_

 _Closer…_

Hermione jolted awake in bed. She was dripping in sweat, as she usually was. It was the fourth time that week she'd had that particular dream, but she'd had it many more times over the last couple of months.

She sighed as she looked over to see Ron beside her; he hadn't even stirred, and she hadn't exactly woken up calmly. He used to wake up every time she did, he used to comfort her after a nightmare and stay awake talking to her until she fell back to sleep, but now even if he did wake with her, he'd just grunt and go back to sleep.

That was probably the reason she was having that dream. It was always the same.

 _Hermione was stood on top of a high-rise. She wasn't sure what building it was exactly, she just knew it was in central London. As she stood there she looked around; she could see the whole of London spread out around her and it was beautiful. It was so open, so free, yet she felt claustrophobic. She felt claustrophobic and she couldn't move._

 _It was getting unbearable, so Hermione started to struggle but to no effect. It was like she'd been stuck there with a particularly strong sticking charm, one that got stronger the more she struggled._

 _Hearing a door open behind her, she turned. For some reason turning was never a problem as long as she stayed in the same spot. Ron was walking out of a door leading from the stairwell. She smiled when she saw him, even though she knew by now what was about to happen._

 _"_ _Ron, what are you doing here?" she asked, hoping to get an answer from him. But she never did. All she ever got was a grunt in response._

 _She watched as Ron came close to her, his face going from a neutral yet kind of an angry sneer the closer he got. It always seemed like he was looking at something just behind her, like there was something he was seeing that made him suddenly angry. Hermione turned to try and see what it was but before she could, he pushed her._

 _It was always the same. One minute she was stood on top of a building, stuck to the floor with a sticking charm, and the next she was over the edge and plummeting to the pavement below. She used to scream, but she gave up on that a long time ago. When she was silent she could hear the laughs of Ron that followed her, and something that sounded like someone screaming "No!"_

 _Then there she was._

 _Falling._

 _She had started taking in all the feelings that surrounded her about a week ago. She had realised that it wasn't a horrible one._

 _Falling._

 _It was a strange feeling, but she liked it. She liked the feeling of wind in her hair and the sense of freedom she hadn't experienced in a while. So she embraced it. She embraced the fall as the floor got closer._

 _Closer…_

 _Closer…_

Hermione wished she knew how that dream ended. She wanted to know why Ron pushed her. She wanted to know who was screaming 'no', that heart-breaking, gut wrenching 'no' that followed her down and got louder every time she had the dream. Hermione knew that she wasn't likely to ever find answers, although as the voice screaming 'no' got louder it had started to sound more and more familiar.

Getting out of bed, she left the room and went to make herself a cup of tea. She knew if she stayed in the bedroom she'd get restless and wake Ron up, and as much as she had once loved it when he woke up and comforted her she didn't want that anymore. She was starting to doubt her feelings for Ron, and the more she had that dream the stronger those doubts became.

She kept thinking over the dream as she drank her tea, and came to the conclusion that it was her subconscious telling her she had feelings for someone else. But that wasn't something she was likely to find out pacing around her kitchen, so when Hermione finished her tea she decided to curl up with a book. It was nearing five o'clock in the morning, so there was no point in going back to sleep, even if she was still extremely tired, as she would be getting up for work in just over an hour.

"Uh, Hermione? Why are you sleeping out here?"

Hermione woke as she heard Ron's voice from the doorway.

"I woke in the night so decided to sit out here and read for a while. I guess I must have fallen asleep again," Hermione shrugged him off, smiling as she walked past to go and take her shower.

Hermione knew her subconscious better than she thought, as during her nap she'd had her dream again, this time getting to see the ending.

 _She stood on top of the high-rise once more. Knowing what was to come, Hermione focused on the scene in front of her instead of struggling or taking in the city._

 _There!_

 _She'd noticed an office block. It was taller than her building; she didn't know why she hadn't noticed it before. Directly in front of her was a window, one considerably bigger than the rest, and the only one in the entire building to have a light on inside._

 _She heard the door open behind her. Knowing she had little time before her feet turned her around she focused on the window. She didn't notice anything unusual until she finally had to turn around; the glass from the window vanished as she saw what looked like a flash of red hair._

 _"_ _Ron? What are you doing here?" Hermione listened to the way she asked the question this time, realising she sounded confused that it was Ron up here and not that anyone would be up here at all. Maybe she'd been planning to meet someone else._

 _Ron gave his usual grunt in return and came toward her, snarling._

 _As she started to turn around she heard the door open once more. That was it; that must be the person she was meant to be meeting! She tried to turn and see who it was but her feet carried on turning back to face the city. She took in the office block again and noticed the window had changed once again. It now looked like a piece of blank parchment with words starting to appear on it. She had just read "Hermione, I lo-" when she felt Ron's hands on her back and she was plummeting over the edge._

 _And she was falling once more. Feeling the wind in her hair and on her face. There was Ron's laugh and the mysterious voice._

 _"_ _No! Hermione!"_

 _Hermione was startled; she'd never heard her name before. As she watched the ground get closer she tried to turn around, and it worked. Looking back up to the roof of the building she noticed two ginger heads poking over the side. One belonging to Ron and one belonging to… she counted the ears, two of them… Fred Weasley._

 _She gasped. Hermione had always found Fred attractive, he was intelligent and kind and she actually found herself enjoying the pranks he and his brother pulled, but she had never thought she may develop feelings for him. But this all but confirmed it. Hermione knew that dreams like this were born out of unfulfilled desires, and the only one she could think of was if she had an unknown and unfulfilled desire for Fred._

 _As she took in the new information she hadn't noticed Fred take out his wand._

 _"_ _Arresto Momentum!" he yelled, and Hermione felt herself slowing. She turned to face the ground and found herself closer than she thought, the arms of a one-eared redheaded man waiting to catch her._

 _"_ _Fred is going to kill that brother of ours. Both for pushing you off a building and ruining the quite frankly spectacular proposal he had planned," George laughed as he set Hermione down on her feet._

 _Hermione smiled as she took in what George had just said. Maybe this dream wasn't so bad after all._

* * *

 **Word Count:** 1,426.

* * *

 **AN:** Huge thanks to Amy (MissWitchx) for betaing this at 1am for me!

 **This is for:**

 _ **Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Forum;**_

 _Muggle Studies - Write a fic starting with someone falling._


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